The present invention pertains to the field of tuning systems in which binary signals representing tuning information are processed to tune a receiver to various tuning positions including apparatus for reducing the number of binary signals required to represent the various tuning positions.
Recently numerous varieties of so-called digital tuning systems which process binary signals representing tuning information in order to tune a television receiver or the like to various tuning positions have been proposed. In digital tuning system for television receivers, apparatus is typically employed to process binary signals, usually consisting of two groups of four binary signals arranged in BCD (Binary Coded Decimal) format, representing the two decimal digits identifying the various channels a user may select. In such systems, for the sake of economy, it is often desirable to reduce the number of binary signals required to represent the channel numbers. For example, in digital tuning systems employing a memory for storing binary signals representing tuning voltage and channel number display information for later retrieval in accordance with the channel selected by a user, a reduction in the number of binary signals which the memory is required to store manifests itself in a reduction in the cost of the memory and as a result a reduction in the cost of the overall tuning system.